#lucifer rant
The Curse of Lucifer: Plausible Ideas with Poor Execution
Season 6 spoilers below.
Before I start, I want to make it clear that I am in no way saying that “Plausible Ideas with Poor Execution” applies to every single plot point in Lucifer. It doesn’t. If it did, I wouldn’t watch it. But this is an issue that, in my mind, has plagued some of the show’s storylines, including those in S6.
A prime example of this is Chloe’s betrayal in S4. It’s totally feasible to me that she would react the way she did. But a lot of fans found it unbelievable after everything she and Lucifer had been through together, and as a result, the character received a lot of hate for it, and I mean a lot. The reason? Because the writers failed to set it up properly.
Kinley’s manipulation of Chloe was inadequate, to say the least. Suggesting that Lucifer doesn’t lie is the biggest lie of all is excellent, but the rest of it? A book which Chloe herself points out is circumstantial evidence, and…? There were options that would have been far more convincing to the audience - involving Trixie and playing on Chloe’s instincts as a mother, for example. S4 was a tight season with only 10 episodes, but the issue was never extra time. It was what we were shown in the scenes that we got.
Which is exactly the problem we have with S6. So let’s move on to three things about that finale, shall we?
1. Lucifer and Chloe had a choice.
Lucifer chooses his daughter’s wishes over his own desire to stay on Earth with Chloe and raise her. A beautiful and poetic parental sacrifice… or it would have been, if not for the way it was handled.
How to make it seem like your character had a choice? Don’t have them make it under duress. Here’s Lucifer’s side of that conversation with Rory: “Rory, no! I’ll miss your childhood. I’ll miss your life! Please… No. Please don’t do this. Don’t. I can’t! Don’t MAKE ME do this. I can’t.”
Do they need to show how desperately Lucifer doesn’t want to leave them? Yes. But having him beg her not to makehim is entirely the wrong way to go about it if you want the audience to come away with the impression he had any choice in the matter. By including those two words, they left the fandom completely divided on this issue. (And I mean that literally - there was a poll on Twitter which came out 50/50.)
And then there’s the fact they give Chloe no agency whatsoever. She merely stands there while Rory and Lucifer (if you go with the view that he had a choice) decide her future for her. The rest of her human life is considered nothing more than a blip, without any thought to how time is perceived by mortals. One desperate look at Chloe from Lucifer, and one nod in return from her, would have included her in the conversation. Instead, she is left out of the equation entirely, as though it’s assumed that because she’s a mother, her choice is automatic.
There is definitely an argument to be made that they could have changed their minds afterwards. But Rory knew what she was doing when she had Lucifer give his word. We’ve only seen Lucifer break his word once, and that was when he thought he was putting Chloe in danger. This time, by breaking it, he thinks he would be putting the Rory he knows in danger of disappearing. Which leads me on to…
2. Rory doesn’t want to change
I think we can all understand this. How many of us would want to be erased? Sure, I can give you reasons aplenty as to why I think Rory should have sacrificed herself, but that’s not the point of this post. The point is, the reason Lucifer and Chloe do as she asks is because she wants to stay as she is. But the writers make that difficult for some parts of the fandom to understand, because outside of being an angsty teenager, her character is barely established at all.
Here’s what we know about Rory:
1. She’s older than she looks. Despite being written as an angry 15 year old, she’s actually older than 20. It’s not until the end of the show that it’s revealed she’s between 40-50 years old.
2. She likes her cool wings, because they remind her of her mom.
3. She loves and idolises her mom.
4. She is angry at and hates Lucifer enough that she self-actualised time travel to come back and kill him. His disappearance “ruined her life.”So why should the audience care about her enough to prioritise her wishes over Chloe and Lucifer’s happiness? She’s a brand new character, and we know almost nothing about her. She’s 50 years old. What kind of life does she have? Does she have a career, a partner, passions, hobbies, other than liking to drive her dad’s car really fast?
Instead of making it clear why Rory doesn’t want to change, the writers are more successful in making it seem like she has a childhood she would want to change, especially after seeing how happy her mom is with Lucifer.
This isn’t helped by the focus not being on Rory changing, and far more on her desire for Lucifer to help souls in Hell (more on this later). She gets one throwaway line on the subject: “That you won’t change me!” I won’t lie, the scene is so hectic that I actually missed it the first time around. It wasn’t until later, by reading interviews, that I realised this was supposed to be the main motivation for the decision.
Finally, it’s made clear in the season that Rory doesn’t know how time travel works. In one moment, she can’t reveal the future in case anything changes. In the next, she’s not only telling people what happens, but also saying the future is set and nothing can be changed.
So when Rory says about her changing, she actually has no idea if that will be the case. Lucifer is already set in a universe where if reality is changed, the core of people remains the same. As was stated in the AU episode, they make the same choices, have the same passions. The audience knows this, and it makes the idea harder to swallow.
3. Lucifer wouldn’t have realised his calling without Rory travelling back in time
If Rory never travels back, then she never brings Dan to Earth, giving Lucifer a chance to unintentionally help him to Heaven. He also never helps Rory, meaning he never reaches the conclusion that he wants to help free souls of their guilt.
Except… by the end of episode 3, the writers already have Lucifer halfway there. Hell, the beginning is established at the end of season 5, with Lucifer talking about how unjust the situation is. He helps Mr. SOB get to Heaven by taking him to the source of his guilt. He is actively trying to find a way to help Dan when we kick off season 6. By episode 3, he is investigating the loop of Jimmy Barnes to try and find a way to help him. Has he succeeded yet? No. But he is working his way towards it, and it does his character an injustice to say that he wouldn’t have gotten there without Rory.
All it would have taken was one conversation with Maze for him to realise why putting Dan in his own kind of purgatory wasn’t working. Or further therapy and discussion on the subject with Linda. There are many, many ways for him to get there, with just a little help.
In order to sell the idea that the loop has to happen, and that Rory has to be there for him to understand his calling, she needed to be far more instrumental in the process.
In conclusion:
Do I like the end of S6? No, I think anyone who follows my Twitter account already knows that. But perhaps I could have accepted it more if what they were trying to achieve was presented more effectively.
A clear choice made by a parent to save the future child they have fallen in love with, who in return is sacrificing a childhood where she could have been raised by both her parents, so that her father can help other people.
But that’s not what we got, and it’s one of the reasons the fandom will forever be at odds over it.
Okay, so I tried really hard to resist the urge to post anything about it, and I even held out for over a week trying to process/calm my feelings about the ending to Lucifer. I’ve tried, I really have, but the more I try, the more I CANNOT rationalize that ending. As you may have guessed, I absolutely hated the ending, and I just really, really, have to get my feelings out about it. If you liked the ending (I really wish I could be you!!), you may want to skip reading any further (I recommend you do, in fact).
I strongly suggest you don’t continue reading if you were happy with S6. I don’t want to upset anyone.
I just need to get my feelings down. I need to talk about Lucifer’s character specifically and why that ending feels so, so terribly wrong.
Can we take a step back and remember just how much of a tortured character Lucifer is? How the show’s focus has always been about Lucifer’s turmoil, his painstaking emotional journey? In fact, it’s what made me fall in love with the show, and the character. The show writers (and Tom Ellis) always did such a phenomenal job depicting this severely damaged, tortured soul, and realizing on-screen so beautifully (and acccurately) what a long and painful process it is to even begin to heal from all Lucifer went through. It’s rare in storytelling that this is so well depicted as a slow progression. It was what I constantly commended the show/writers on.
And then S6 happened.
I just saw a gifset from the original Charmed and remembered that I stopped watching the show by the time they introduced the “kid of the main couple that comes from the future to *insert whatever reason you want here*” plot.
I think I was around 17 years old when that started and it completely ruined the show for me.
So to everyone who said to me (yes, to me personally, not just what I’m seeing about people who didn’t like the ending in general) things like: you didn’t understand the ending; you just don’t like Rory because she’s a girl; You not liking Rory is homophobia (???) and so many other things… Please notice that this is a kind of plot I’ve been having trouble with for 18 (!!!!!!) years.
Having the “kid from the future” and some other things I also have issues with, is the reason why I didn’t like the ending. And yes, I understood it perfectly.
Me, still thinking about this plot, and still salty about it.
I think the older I get and the more media I consume, the more firmly I feel that Death of the Author is necessary. The Lucifer showrunners changing or elaborating things in post-show interviews doesn’t win them any brownie points with me.
If it was part of their intention in the story for Lucifer to visit Chloe on Earth, hold baby Rory, or watch over his family from afar, then we should have seen that on the show. The finale could have been a longer epilogue in which we saw some of these moments. Chloe coming home to flowers and a note from Lucifer. Lucifer going into Rory’s room at night when she’s a baby to hold her.
Lucifer hiding from Rory in Hell when she tries to find him.Lucifer watching his family from a distance while they play on the beach.But I am unimpressed with these sorts of revelations coming out after the show is done. It feels like an attempt to placate people who didn’t like the finale with scraps. And people who didn’t like the ending don’t need to be told “Well, actually, Joe and Ildy said…” No one should have to rely on Word of God revisions to make sense of the ending.
I’m using Joe and Ildy as an example here, but I’m not trying to trash them specifically. The same thing happens with so many writers/authors. (You know who I’m talking about.) This is common in a lot of media.
In the end, you should not have to rely on interviews to get what the show should have given you in the first place.
Because for one thing, just how many viewers out there haven’t even seen these interviews? I cannot believe that the fandom, who are the main consumers of this kind of media, is larger than the general audience. A lot of fans — unlike me — have found comfort in these additions to the story through interviews. In their mind, they are now canon, despite never appearing in the actual show.
The fact of the matter is though, that if the writers wanted to soften the tragic events leading to the end that they gave us, then it should have been in the show. Because there are now thousands of people out there who will more than likely never have that comfort, and are instead left devastated by what the main characters in their favourite show had to endure to ‘earn’ their happy ending.
My headcanons:
Lucifer went to science camp and said goodbye to Trixie.
Lucifer didn’t leave immediately, he stayed with Chloe until Rory was born, but didn’t go home with them because it would be harder to leave.
Lucifer would often come to see Chloe and they spent time together without Rory knowing. They would often talk about how things were doing in Hell and Chloe would help him with some particular soul. Meanwhile Chloe would talk about things at home and show him photos and how everything was going at her new Lt position.
When Chloe was on her deathbed Trixie was there the whole time, only left when Rory was coming back because at that point Trixie understood everything and gave time for her mom and sister to talk.
After Chloe died she and Lucifer would often take trips to heaven so they could see their family and their friends. Then they would go back to hell and continue helping the souls.
There, fixed it for me. I don’t care, it’s all true now. If I have to accept Rory and time travel, then that’s how this is going to be.
So we’re all in agreement that s6 would have been immaculate if Rory simply…hadn’t existed? Everything else can stay. I’m cool with Lucifer being the Hell Therapist and Chloe hanging out with him and certainly Amenadiel makes a great God but haha damn idk how you miss the mark THAT bad on everything involving the time traveling daughter that doesn’t even exist yet
Yes thank you Jesus Christ.
She was the plot device for her own terrible childhood?? I MEAN?????
What was the POINT!!! Lucifer was going to realise he wanted help the dammed at one point or the other and if Amenadiel can be GOD and be there for Charlie then WHY CAN’T LUCIFER??
There was no need to speedrun his realization with an angst teen angel
THIS was literally Chloe’s and Lucifer’s WORST hell - Chloe being without Lucifer and Lucifer doing exactly what his dad did to him?????
This is what happens when you go off the word of a Teenager.
Please for the LOVE OF GOD CAN SOMEONE BE A PARENT IN THIS SHOW
Just one more thing that someone pointed out to me.
Rory at that point was what…40 years old? More?
Wasn’t she *a little* old to be an angsty teenager? Even if she’s immortal, she’s still half human. 40+ is not a teenager. And if she was sooo pissed at Lucifer, why couldn’t she just pop down in hell like any other moment of her life and confront him about it?
No, let’s put freaking time travel in the mix, to use as an excuse for this horrible plot we are putting in there just to give our couple another obstacle for no good reason.
The more I think about it, the angrier I get because of this.
The fact that I’m not in the mood to make s6 gifs makes me sad.
Not even to finish the set I’ve been doing for years (like the one of Lucifer calling her Chloe or with all the kisses).
I’ll probably make them just to complete things but I’m really not feeling it and it’s sad to me.
I really wish someone could change my mind about that ending. But it really doesn’t make sense to me how it was done
So we’re all in agreement that s6 would have been immaculate if Rory simply…hadn’t existed? Everything else can stay. I’m cool with Lucifer being the Hell Therapist and Chloe hanging out with him and certainly Amenadiel makes a great God but haha damn idk how you miss the mark THAT bad on everything involving the time traveling daughter that doesn’t even exist yet
